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Chapter 8 The Trait Approach: Relevant Research. The popularity of the trait approach to the study of personality. Of the six approaches to the study of personality described in your text, the trait approach is the one that is the most widely used by researchers in: Psychology Communications
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The popularity of the trait approach to the study of personality • Of the six approaches to the study of personality described in your text, the trait approach is the one that is the most widely used by researchers in: • Psychology • Communications • Business • Health science • Physical education • Political science • Sociology • Social work
The Thematic ApperceptionTest (TAT) Developed by Henry Murray • born 1893, died 1988 at age 95 • developed the TAT in the 1930s
David C. McClelland (1917-1998) • McClelland earned his Ph.D. in experimental psychology at Yale University in 1941. • He taught at Connecticut College and Wesleyan University before accepting a position at Harvard in 1956. • After 30 years at Harvard he moved to Boston University, where he was a Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology until his death at the age of 80. • He proposed a content theory of motivation based on Henry Murray's (1938) theory of personality. • In his 1961 book, The achieving society, McClelland argued that human motivation comprises three dominant needs: the need for achievement (nAch), the need for power (nPow), and the need for affiliation (nAffil). The subjective importance of each need varies from individual to individual and also depends on an individual's cultural background.
Characteristics of people with high achievement motivation • Moderate risk takers: they want to succeed, but are also highly motivated to avoid failure • High energy level: they work hard at tasks that enable them to experience a sense of achievement, but are as susceptible as anyone else to the boredom of routine tasks • Prefer jobs that assign personal responsibility: they want to be able to take credit for their successes, but also need to know when, and how, they have failed • Prefer jobs that are diagnostic of their ability level: they prefer clear, unambiguous feedback about their level of success or failure
Characteristics of people with high achievement motivation • Moderate risk takers: they want to succeed, but are also highly motivated to avoid failure • High energy level: they work hard at tasks that enable them to experience a sense of achievement, but are as susceptible as anyone else to the boredom of routine tasks • Prefer jobs that assign personal responsibility: they want to be able to take credit for their successes, but also need to know when, and how, they have failed • Prefer jobs that are diagnostic of their ability level: they prefer clear, unambiguous feedback about their level of success or failure
Predicting achievement behavior • The parents whose children had the highest nAch scores were those who provided support and encouragement long enough for the children to feel competent, but not so long that the children were robbed of independence and initiative. They knew when to “back off” and let the child take charge (McClelland & Pilon, 1983). • McClelland (1965) reported that the nAch scores of a group of male students at Harvard University predicted their status as entrepreneurs 14 years later (83% of the high nAch students became entrepreneurs). • A potential weakness of high nAch individuals is their reluctance to delegate authority. For example, McClelland and Boyatzis (1982) reported that nAch was related to success for lower-level managers but not for higher-level managers.
Gender, culture, and achievement • Although the early nAch studies used only men as subjects, as women’s work opportunities have changed, more studies have focused on nAch in women. • Jenkins (1987) found that women’s nAch scores predicted their job choice and job characteristics 14 years later. • Other research indicates the men and women differ in the value they assign to achievement tasks (Eccles, 1985) and in the way they define success (Gaeddert, 1985). • Achievement has a different meaning in individualist cultures, such as the US, than in collectivist cultures such as Japan and China (Hui, 1988).
Outcome attributions • Three dimensions for classifying the attributed causes of personal outcomes: the stability dimension, the causal locus dimension, and the controllability dimension • The causal locus dimension has the most weight in determining how good or bad people feel about their positive (success) or negative (failure) outcomes. • The stability dimension has the most weight in determining whether people predict that the same outcome will occur in the future. • The attribution approach suggests that achievement motivation can often be changed by changing the person’s attributions (Wilson & Linville, 1982, 1985).
Outcome attributions • Three dimensions for classifying the attributed causes of personal outcomes: the stability dimension. the causal locus dimension, and the controllability dimension • The causal locus dimension has the most weight in determining how good or bad people feel about their positive (success) or negative (failure) outcomes. • The stability dimension has the most weight in determining whether people predict that the same outcome will occur in the future. • The attribution approach suggests that achievement motivation can often be changed by changing the person’s attributions (Perry, Stupnisky, et al., 2010).
The Type A and Type B behavior patterns • The Type A pattern of behavior was identified by two cardiologists, Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman. • They developed a Structured Interview Technique to distinguish Type A individuals from Type B individuals. • Type A and Type B actually form a continuum. • Type As are time urgent, impatient, and highly competitive. They drive themselves (and, often, others as well) and are easily frustrated and angered by obstacles and delays. • In contrast, Type Bs are more easygoing and relaxed. They are less likely to push themselves to compete, and they are also less upset by obstacles and delays.
Type A as a personality variable • Compared to Type Bs, Type As are impatient, time urgent, competitive, hard driving individuals who can’t stand to see time wasted. They act as if they have a strong motive to control the people and events they encounter. • This pattern of behavior is reflected in their watch settings, their driving habits, their study habits, their reactions to failure, and their reactions to persuasive messages. • Type As are more likely than Type Bs to dominate a group discussion, less likely to give up control of a task, and more likely to want something after being told they can’t have it. • Type As are less likely than Type Bs to acknowledge stress. This may occur because Type As are better than Type Bs at “tuning out” anything they regard as task-irrelevant stimuli.
Type A and achievement • In general, Type As work harder and are more productive than Type Bs. • On the other hand, their motivation can wane if the task is too easy. • As college students, Type As receive more academic honors. They also participate in more outside activities, including sports, and receive more rewards and recognition in these domains as well. • Type A research psychologists publish more articles and get cited more than their Type B counterparts, even controlling for gender and other relevant variables. • A survey of 12 large companies found that managers were more likely to be Type As than Type Bs. • On the other hand, Type As work longer hours, stress themselves (and others) more, and may not be as happy as Type Bs.
Type A and health • In early studies, Type A proved to be a risk factor for heart disease, along with hypertension and obesity. In fact, it was a better risk factor in predicting heart attacks than cholesterol level or smoking. • Later studies often yielded less impressive results, however. Why was this so? • Measuring Type A: a question of validity • The Structured Interview Technique (SIT) • The Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) • Identifying the “toxic component” of Type A as anger and hostility • Why does the anger and hostility component predict heart disease? • High blood pressure • Compromised immune system • Poor social support system • Unhealthy lifestyle
Adding a Type A personality to other risk factors, such as obesity, can be fatal
Type A and health • In early studies, Type A proved to be a risk factor for heart disease, along with hypertension and obesity. In fact, it was a better risk factor in predicting heart attacks than cholesterol level or smoking. • Later studies often yielded less impressive results, however. Why was this so? • Measuring Type A: a question of validity • The Structured Interview Technique (SIT) • The Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) • Identifying the “toxic component” of Type A as anger and hostility • Why does the anger and hostility component predict heart disease? • High blood pressure • Compromised immune system • Poor social support system • Unhealthy lifestyle
Blood pressure response of male participants to social interactions (Guyll & Contrada, 1998)
Shyness and social anxiety • Measures of shyness and social anxiety correlate so highly with each other that it makes sense to regard them as synonymous constructs. Other highly related constructs include dating anxiety, communication anxiety, reticence, and stage fright. • Shyness, or social anxiety, is not the same as introversion. Whereas introverts often choose to be by themselves, most shy or socially anxious people do not like the social isolation imposed by their condition.
Today, people with shyness can also get help (and dates) through on-line support websites
Characteristics of socially anxious people • They feel awkward, nervous, and self-conscious when they meet new people, have to talk in front of an audience, or are concerned about having to make a good impression. • They are very concerned about what they are doing wrong, how stupid they must sound, and how foolish and awkward they must look. • They often show outward signs of nervousness, such as stammering, perspiration, and shakiness. • Sometimes their social anxiety is so extreme that they retreat into themselves and can no longer carry on an effective conversation. • They are more reluctant to ask other people for help when they need it. • They tend to be hypervigilant for negative feedback, and to interpret even neutral feedback in a negative manner.
Correlations of the men’s and women’s shyness with dyad-level measures of behavior
Correlations of the men’s shyness with the men’s and women’s individual behaviors
Explaining social anxiety • Social anxiety (shyness) is a reaction toevaluation apprehension that results in a self-protective strategy. This strategy prescribes that the shy person should: • Avoid social encounters • However, if you must interact with someone: • Avoid eye contact • Keep the conversation brief and non-threatening • Agree, restate, clarify • Limit self-disclosure • A lack of specific social skills, such as the ability to initiate a conversation • A lack of confidence in one’s ability to make a good impression
Positive affect and social activity • Researchers consistently find that positive affect is related to social activity. But what are the possible reasons for this association? • One reason may be that social activity causes positive affect. • Planned social activities tend to be pleasant and enjoyable. • Social contact is often intrinsically rewarding and often provides other rewards in the form of help and assistance, social support, and so on. • Alternatively, people may engage in social activity because they experience positive affect (i.e., positive affect causes social activity). • Happy, upbeat people might make friends more easily. • Happy, upbeat people might get along better with others (experience less conflict and resolve conflicts more effectively). • Happy, upbeat people might keep their friends longer.
Negative affect and health problems • With regard to mental health problems, negative affect has consistently been found to be related to: • Psychological stress • Emotional problems • With regard to physical health problems, negative affect has consistently been found to be related to: • Complaints about health • Stress-related illness • Why is negative affect related to physical health problems? • Negative affect may interfere with health-promoting behaviors such as avoiding smoking/drinking, eating right, and getting enough sleep. • People who already have a lot of health problems may become more negative about their lives in general (the reverse causal ordering)
Affect intensity • Affect intensity refers to the strength or degree to which people typically experience their emotions. • Surprisingly, perhaps, when researchers compare people with high versus low affect intensity, they find that they go to the same number of parties and concerts and have the same numbers of hassles and setbacks. • The difference lies in how they react to these events. • High affect-intensity people imagine that they would have more intense reactions to hypothetical events. • They are more likely to draw unwarranted conclusions based on one good or bad experience. • They experience happiness and well-being as exhilaration, whereas low affect-intensity people experience it as contentment. • Artists score higher in affect intensity than scientists.
Affect intensity • Affect intensity refers to the strength or degree to which people typically experience their emotions. • Surprisingly, perhaps, when researchers compare people with high versus low affect intensity, they find that they go to the same number of parties and concerts and have the same numbers of hassles and setbacks. • The difference lies in how they react to these events. • High affect-intensity people imagine that they would have more intense reactions to hypothetical events. • They are more likely to draw unwarranted conclusions based on one good or bad experience. • They experience happiness and well-being as exhilaration, whereas low affect-intensity people experience it as contentment. • Artists score higher in affect intensity than scientists.
Emotional expressiveness • Emotional expressiveness refers to the extent to which people express their emotions outwardly. • For example, in one study, emotionally expressive women displayed visible signs of joy when told that they had answered some difficult problems correctly. • Individual differences in this trait are relatively stable. • Women tend to be more emotionally expressive than men. • Emotionally expressive people tend to report fewer problems in their romantic relationships than more inexpressive people do. • Emotionally expressive people also report greater happiness, less anxiety, less depression, and higher self-esteem than more inexpressive people do.
Dispositional optimism • Research findings show that positive expectations help people cope better with many life adjustment problems. • The personality variable of dispositional optimism distinguishes chronic optimists from chronic pessimists, as measured by the Life Orientation Test (LOT) developed by Charles Carver and Michael Scheier. • Optimists usually achieve more than pessimists. • They tend to set their goals higher and believe that they can reach these goals. • They are less likely to be deterred by setbacks and temporary failures (in a study of new insurance salesmen, the pessimists were twice as likely as the optimists to quit within the first year). • There are cultural differences in dispositional optimism (for example, Japanese are more pessimistic than Canadians).
Dispositional optimism and dealing with adversity • Israeli citizens who were threatened by SCUD missile attacks during the first Persian Gulf War coped better with the stress if they were dispositional optimists than if they were pessimists. • Women caring for an Alzheimer’s patient reported less stress and depression if they were optimists than if they were pessimists. • Patients dealing with breast cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, or coronary artery bypass surgery coped better if they were dispositional optimists. • Compared to pessimistic students, optimistic students reported having an easier time adjusting to the demands of their first college term. • Optimists are more likely than pessimists to use active coping strategies. Pessimists are more likely to use avoidance coping strategies instead.
Optimism and health • A longitudinal study revealed that optimists at age 25 reported better health at ages 45-60 than pessimists did. • Why are optimists healthier than pessimists? Some possible reasons are suggested by the following research findings: • Optimists are more likely to develop wide social networks and turn to friends for help in time of need. • Optimists appear to have stronger immune systems than pessimists do. • Optimists also tend to have lower blood pressure, lowering their risk for cardiovascular disease. • An optimistic outlook leads to the kinds of attitudes and values that promote good health (good diet, exercise, use of seat belts, etc).
